Lincoln's Sophie Bradley has recently broken into the England squad and has been awarded a central contract which earns her £16,000 a year. But despite this and some pay from her club, the 21-year-old defender – like the vast majority of the players in the new Women's Super League – needs to maintain a part-time job outside football.

 Monday I'll start each week working at my part-time job in a care home. My duties are varied, helping the old people in their basic day-to-day requirements. On Monday evenings the team will be training and for me that means a 50-mile drive each way

Tuesday A rest day in terms of training as a group, but we all have our individual programmes - some of the girls from the national team as well as the club - so I'll be doing stuff at home or at my local gym. I may also fit in an extra shift at work

Wednesday We'll be playing a couple of matches a week and next Wednesday is our first, against Doncaster Belles at Sincil Bank. We'll meet up around 5.30pm for a pre-match meal and go through our gameplan one last time

Thursday A rest day but more individual training and another shift at work. I like to get my head away from football when I'm not training or playing and I find my work at the care home really fulfilling

Friday Debriefing from our Wednesday match and starting to prepare for our Sunday game. We'll do some stuff in the gym as well as working on match-play on the pitch. Nothing too high-intensity, but work on set plays, shooting and small-sided games

Saturday In my local park to keep up my fitness programme, then if we've got an away game on Sunday the team will meet up and travel for an overnight stay

Sunday If we're at home we'll meet up two hours or so before the game and the routine will be the same as on midweek match days 